The sport of fishing is practiced and enjoyed by a large percentage of the population. Many of those who engage in this sport practice that form of fishing known as casting. These fishermen cast from docks, from wharves, from boats, and into the surf, to state but a few examples. It is necessary in casting to have a sufficiently clear working area to facilitate rod, line, and terminal tackle movement. The movement which is made during casting is very dangerous in that the sinker and fishhook describe a launch path from the rear of the fisherman's location and when launched may hit or hook objects or persons that are within the launch path. Thus, most casting methods are ineffective in confined quarters and impose on the fisherman certain restrictive body postures.
Casting methods demand an acquired skill level, hand-eye coordination, timing, etc., to produce consistently accurate results in the placement of the terminal tackle. Casting ability depends on the manner of execution, which in turn depends on a fisherman's skill, physical power and dexterity. The purpose of casting is, of course, to obtain the exact placement of the line in order to increase the probability of success. Such often requires casting bait to distances remote from the location of the fisherman. This is particularly so with respect to surf fishing where a fisherman casting from a beach is required to have considerable skill and accuracy in the placement of the bait in a selected target area in deep water. Often in these circumstances, it is desired to make a cast further than can normally be made by conventional manual casting techniques. This problem is exacerbated in the case of handicapped individuals whose strength and/or physical dexterity is compromised.
As a result, there have been developed various arrangements for providing a powered casting system. Such prior art fishing arrangements have utilized a number of different power providing systems. For example, these devices have employed propulsion mechanisms such as springs, sling-shot type rubber bands, compressed gases and other propellants such as a rocket motors and explosive charges. In general, these systems are complex, expensive, and generally impractical. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,977,706; 3,400,840; 3,416,256; 3,419,991; 3,834,056; 4,110,929; 4,631,852; 4,756,113; 5,060,413 and 5,689,909.
In general such prior art arrangements have required modification to the fishing rod, the reel, or development of an entirely new fishing rod structure in order to accommodate the powered casting system. Consequently, such prior art devices have not proved to be completely satisfactory. Moreover, in most instances when these devices are used the forward motion of the propellant rod section during the launching action is suddenly stopped when one mechanical portion physically strikes another with considerable force. This tends to not only jerk the fishing rod from the operator's grasp but also strains certain parts of the rod each time it is used, thereby shortening the rod's useful life.
Further, of the apparatus addressed above, only that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,413 provides a fishing line launching device that does not require a modified or customized fishing rod. The device includes an elongate support having first and second ends. The first end of the support is fitted with a spear or spike-like member which is thrust into the ground at a desired angle in order to anchor the device to the ground. The second end of the support carries a releasable impeller device which launches a fishing line carrying projectile. The impeller device uses pressurized cartridges containing blasting or percussion caps which ignite a charge of gunpowder to launch the projectile. Such explosives are not only unsafe, but also expensive, and a user would be required to carry a considerable supply of the cartridges to launch the number of casts required of a typical fishing excursion. Moreover, the spiked anchor member provides a single anchorage point for the device which is less than desirable with regard to device stability, safety and launching accuracy. More particularly, explosive cartridges generate considerable force that may cause the device and the equipment carried thereby to suddenly shift if the spike is not firmly embedded in the ground. In the event of such a shift, the user may be placed in danger, the projectile will miss its target and a blasting cap will be wasted. Also, the orientation of the support cannot be adjusted without physically extracting the spiked end from the ground and forcing it back into the ground. Such a procedure does not lend itself to precise position adjustments and may require considerable trial and error before a user achieves the desired projectile flight trajectory (which also may result in a number of wasted explosive charges if the support is incorrectly positioned).
Prior powered casting arrangements, therefore, have not met with wide-spread adoption and use as being too mechanically complicated, too expensive to manufacture, too restricted to specific types of terminal tackle, too unwieldy, and/or too functionally infeasible.
A need exists therefore, for a fishing line casting system that that is safe yet powerful, requires no custom fishing rods or modification of existing commercially available fishing rods for its proper operation, is structurally stable and is easily and accurately adjustable to any desired launch trajectory.
The present invention proposes a fishing line casting system for the casting of a projectile, often a bait or lure and/or float or sinker, to which a fishing line is coupled. By utilizing a compressed air powered method of propulsion and direction, the projectile's speed and direction can be controlled such that a projectile of some weight may be delivered to a target area of some distance safely and accurately. Such a casting system will enable all fishermen to have an equal opportunity to be successful independent of their skill or physical power and will decrease the dangers associated with traditional casting methods.